FISHING THE FORGOTTEN WET FLIES
When the term "wet flies" is used many anglers think of the bright and gaudy patterns that were employed for brook trout in the late 19th and early 20th century. They figure that this type of fishing has gone the way of the passenger pigeon. Nothing could be further from the truth!!
In our rush to master the floating fly and improve our nymphing skills, it seems that the art of the wet fly and wet fly tactics has been discarded as no longer useful. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially for the caddis angler. Wet flies and wet fly tactics are deeply rooted in our fly fishing history. According to Ernie Schwiebert, in his 1978 publication entitled Trout Strategies, there were recent findings which dated the use of wet flies back 2,300 years ago to the Chou Dynasty in China. Without a doubt, wet flies reigned supreme in the fly fishing world until the coming of the dry fly, a little more than a century ago.
Let's take a look at early fly fishing literature and see what was said about wet flies and why they were developed. Were they some angler's fanciful creation or was there more to it than that?!
The origin of accepted angling literature dates back to 1496. Dame Juliana Berners, who was the prioress of the Sopewell Nunnery at Saint Albans, had her book entitled A Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle published as part of the 2nd edition of the Boke of Saint Albans, which was edited by Wynkyn de Worde. In her Treatyse Berners listed twelve patterns which were created to match the hatches of the various months of the year. They were not created on a whim or fanciful notion. The fact that Dame Juliana may have been a myth, and at best not likely a nun, the fact remains that the book accredited to her is one of the earliest written documents we have on fishing with artificial flies.
Angling literature is filled with information on how patterns were developed through the centuries leading up to present times and how the majority of those patterns were the angler's attempt to match the naturals.
However, in our haste to explore, master and expand more modern methods of fly fishing, we have created a generation of anglers who lack the training and knowledge to effectively fish wet flies. In years past, we all started out using wet flies, and it's still one of the better ways to get the beginner started along the fly fishing path. There are still many times in today's high‑tech world of fly fishing when the river belongs to the skilled wet fly angler.
The advances in leaders, fly lines, rods and fly tying have, in fact, created an explosion in wet fly methods and uses. As time and creativity has brought many changes to the theory and practice of fishing floating flies or using nymphs, the same has been true of the wet fly. But alas, only a few have noticed and monitored these changes. There are situations when fishing the wet fly is the only proper thing to do, as you may indeed have to fish "wets" if you want to match the hatch.
Some anglers think that fishing the wet fly is nothing more than a simple way to fish one or more flies and take a few fish without having any knowledge and just the most basic casting skills. This may be true, but there is still a lot more to wet fly fishing than they realize. Consider this!!
What happens to mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies or even midges after an egg laying flight? They end up on the surface of the water, but only for a short while. The river currents drown them and bring the insects under the surface of the water. Some species of caddis even dive down to the bottom to lay their eggs. Few, if any, ever return to the surface. Many terrestrials, after finding themselves afloat, succumb to the rougher elements of the stream and soon sink.
What better method of matching this type of food form than the proper usage of wet fly imitations. Remember, wet flies were not invented in America to catch ravenous brook trout. The silhouette, shape and color of wet flies were developed in England over several centuries to catch sophisticated and finicky brown trout.
The anglers of yesteryear fished wet flies with grace, pleasure and a great deal of effectiveness, not only as mere attractors, but as imitations of specific life stages of specific insects. Many of the old wet fly patterns were tied to imitate caddis pupa that were emerging as well as diving caddis adults. If you use the old wet fly swing method, you cast slightly up and across stream. Then you follow the downstream movement of the fly with your rod tip. As the fly enters the water and starts downstream, it sinks. As the fly starts to swing (at this point you may want to mend your line to slow down the speed of the swing) it will start to rise up through the water, much like an emerging caddis.
It seems that fly-fishing has become more complicated and technical with each passing year. Each year we are told to become complete anglers, and this is, in fact, necessary if we are to achieve the best results under the demanding circumstances of today's fly-fishing. But how can an angler claim to be a complete fly fisher by ignoring the wet fly and the methods used in fishing them? If you give wet fly fishing a fair chance, I think you'll find it both rewarding and exciting and you'll be adding an old, but effective, method to your fly fishing repertoire.
Because of the decline of the wet fly methods many fly shops no longer carry basic wet flies. However, patterns like the Soft Hackled Flies of Syl Nemes are basically wet flies and the tyer can devise or modify patterns that meet the wet fly needs of the stream being fished. For those who wish to learn more about wet flies and the methods to fish them I suggest reading Ray Bergman's classic Trout. This book has a good section on wet fly methods and the back of the book lists many wet fly patterns, which may be modified for, use. Give the wet fly fishing method a try; you'll be glad you did!
Wet fly fishing is often associated with fishing more than one fly at a time. It is often thought that by using multiple flies the angler is giving the trout a choice. However, that is only a very small part of the answer. When an angler is using multiple flies on the leader the angle at which the leader sinks through the water is affected. This multi‑fly cast therefore allows the angler to cover the water in varying depths.
Note: The terminology for multi‑fly casts is as follows: The lead fly, or the fly on the end of the leader, is referred to as the stretcher fly. The next fly up is referred to as the dropper or the first dropper. The second fly up is called the second dropper and so on.
Often times the angler new to wet fly methods will find that the trout will select one fly over the others (I usually use 3) and will change the placement of the dropper or remove them. Generally, it is soon discovered that trout no longer seem to be interested in any of the patterns. This is because the angle and plane of the leader entering the water has been changed and the trout are no longer seeing the pattern at the proper depth. One thing the angler must remember is that the pattern or patterns must be presented at the proper depth and in the proper manner to be successful. This means putting the fly in the trout's feeding zone and keeping it there as long as possible. This is often the most effective technique for the angler to employ prior to a major caddis emergence.
To be successful when using multi‑fly casts the angler must use a leader designed to do the job. I construct all of my own multi‑fly leaders and, with the exception of the tippet and the dropper strands, I use Maxima leader material. Maxima is stiff enough so the dropper strands and the flies will hang down from the main stem of the leader in a proper manner. When I build my multi‑fly leaders I place five different dropper loops in the leader. This allows me to move the flies and fish them at varying depths depending on the angling situation and conditions at hand. These dropper loops are small, and when it's time to move to the surface I simply remove the dropper strands (leaving the loops), add a longer tippet and I can effectively fish the dry fly without the dropper loop causing drag. Oh by the way, I also use this leader when fishing the dry fly/nymph combinations.
Tom's 10' Multi Fly 4X Dropper Leader
I use the loop to loop system for putting my leader to the butt section of my fly line, employing the use of Perfection Loops. I use Perfection Loops on my dropper strands and then use the loop-to-loop system to attach them to the dropper loops in the leader. The dropper strands should never exceed 6" once the strand and fly are secured to the leader (4" is better). The dropper strand should always be made of weaker material than the dropper loop it's being attached to. This is so that if you hang the fly on an underwater obstruction you lose the fly and dropper strand but not the rest of the leader and possibly other flies as well!!
For joining the tippet section to the rest of the leader I use Double Surgeon's Loops on both the tippet and the last section of the leader and use the loop-to-loop method of putting them together. This allows me to change tippets very quickly and I have found this to be a very strong and secure way of knotting tippets to the rest of the leader.
Section 1: 32" Butt Section: 1/2" Perfection Loop .022 30 lb. Maxima
Section 2: 18" .020 Maxima 25 lb.
Section 3: 11.5" 1st dropper loop. Placed in the center of the section‑‑.017 Maxima 20 lb. Use .010 Maxima 8 lb. for the dropper strand.
Section 4: 8" 2nd dropper loop. Placed in the center of the section‑‑.015 Maxima 15 lb. Use .010 Maxima 8 lb. for the dropper strand.
Section 5: 7.5" 3rd dropper loop. Placed in the center of the section‑‑.013 Maxima 12 lb. Use .008 Maxima 5 lb. for the dropper strand.
Section 6: 8" 4th dropper loop. Placed in the center of the section‑‑.012 Maxima 10 lb. with .008 Maxima 5 lb. for the dropper strand.
Section 7: 8" 5th dropper loop. Placed in the center of the section, with the end looped with a double surgeon's loop.‑‑.010 Maxima 8 lb. with .007 Maxima 4 lb. for the dropper strand.
Section 8: 27" Tippet, place a double surgeon's loop in one end and use the loop-to-loop method to attach it to section 6. Use Umpqua or Orvis Super Strong material for the tippet .007, .006, or .005 (3X, 4X or 5X)
This leader setup allows me to place the flies at varying depths. Besides, it's sometimes fun to take one of the cane rods and use a multi‑fly system and go fish a strange river much like those bygone anglers of yesteryear!!